What do you think?
Rate this book
Tao
Prachtige nieuwe editie van dŽ klassieker over het de belangrijkste filosofische, mystieke en religieuze stroming van China In Tao beschrijft de Nederlandse taost Kristofer Schipper in heldere taal de geschiedenis van deze Chinese leer. Hij verdiept zich in de rituelen en in de elementen waaruit de leer is opgebouwd, zoals de grote aandacht voor het menselijk lichaam en de kosmologie. Dit boeiende boek is gebaseerd op perse taostische geschriften en is daardoor zowel een uitstekende inleiding voor buitenstaanders als waardevol materiaal voor wie al vertrouwd is met de filosofie van het taosme. Daarnaast is het een essentieel werk voor wie meer van China wil weten. Het land is voor de westerse beschouwer niet goed te begrijpen zonder kennis van deze eeuwenoude levensbeschouwing. In alles wat er de afgelopen eeuw in dit machtige rijk is voorgevallen, zowel onder het maosme als tijdens de gigantische industrialisatie, heeft de Tao bewust of onbewust doorgewerkt. Tao is veel meer dan een godsdienst, het is een manier van kijken en een manier van in het leven staan. Een religie zonder gelovigen en zonder canonieke leerstellingen, maar met enorm veel invloed op de Chinese cultuur. In de persÔEen bijzonder en kleurrijk boek. Õ TrouwÔEen levendige, geestige en vaak fascinerende beschrijving van misschien wel de oudste continue religie ter wereld. Õ de Volkskrant
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published May 6, 2022
9 people want to read
About the author
Kristofer Schipper
24 books12 followersKristofer Schipper was als hoogleraar verbonden aan de Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Parijs en de Rijksuniversiteit Leiden. Momenteel woont en werkt hij in Fuzhou, China. Hij is een groot kenner van het taoïsme. Eerder verscheen van hem de vertaling van De innerlijke geschriften. [Uitgeverij Augustus]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2024
‘Tao - The Living Religion of China’ by K. Schipper is a great entry work for any person interested in Taoism. Schipper is an authority on the subject and, closely related, to Chinese philosophy in general. He is an translator and really understands the fundaments of Chinese language. By reading this book one can feel the depth of his research and the decades of experience.
Taoism is beautiful in its essence and simplicity. And because of that, it’s also very difficult and abstract. The first chapter of the Dao De King (or Tao Te Jing) literally states that: ‘The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.’ In other words: it’s not really possible to write, teach or talk about the Tao. The Chinese concept originates from the word Dao 道 (pinyin: dào), whose numerous meanings include 'way', 'road' (and 'technique' and so on). The Tao is tasteless, colourless, invisible. One can only understand it by trying to describe what circles around it. It’s a bit like a black hole; one can only see a black hole due to the accretion disk circling around it. The hole itself is invisible. So, that’s something what they have in common. But on the other hand it’s totally not like a black hole :-) A black hole is part of our universe and it originated long after the Big Bang. The Tao has always been here. It was the original state of the universe before anything happened. It is the underlying energy, the fabric of the cosmos. It stille exists here and now. It’s almost a being on itself, an entity, an unconscious consciousness.
Schipper starts with the basics. People who are familiar with the Tao Te Jing often have some knowledge of Taoistic concepts like wei wu wei (doing without resistance or effortless action; 無為 wu wei), naturalness and spontaneity, simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion. Schipper talks about this and situates it in its historical frame. Taoism originated in a turbulent period around 400 BC. Although it crystallised into graspable texts during this period; many ideas are way way older going back to the period after Great Flood and before the agricultural revolution.
Schippper links it with folklore and the Old Belief in Nature. Furthermore he connects it with Confucianism and really points out the differences. Confucianism is more rooted in the old rituals connected to the deities of agricultural practice. Confucianism is more rigid and more about control, about following specific steps, about rituals and sacrifices. Taoism doesn’t want to control anything. It doesn’t engage in sacrifices. It’s about self cultivation in an almost paradoxical way; by letting go of everything one shall have everything that one needs. The philosophies support a core principle of self help: The path of understanding Taoism is simply accepting yourself. Live life and discover who you are. Your nature is ever changing and is always the same. Don’t try to resolve the various contradictions in life, instead learn acceptance of your nature. In a way, by becoming in sync with the Tao, one can become immortal and return to the source.
Taoism is not a religion in the pure sense of the word. There is no Superior Being, nor a Creature From Above, no real God nor Master. There are a large number of Gods and Figures With Special Abilities (think of the Ba Xian 八仙 or the Eight Immortals). But these Figures and Gods never stand above the Tao, they are always part of the Tao and part of the world. Schipper really dives into the history of Taoism and wildly explains ancient stories, traditions, folklore and rituals. He also points out the different schools of Taoism and the clash between the two still existing parties: the North and the South; in which the Northern School is really connected to Confucianism. It is less spiritual and way more practical. It’s about following steps, principles and rituals. In a way this Northern Taoism founded Chinese Thought. The Southern style is the style widely spread in the Western world with its philosophical playfulness, connecting to the core Tao teachings from the past. These two schools are the left overs from the 13th century reformation in which Taoism was officially divided into two big religious cults: the Zhengyi ways and Quanzhen ways. The taoists who believe in Zhengyi Tao need not renounce the family and can practise austerities at their own homes. The Quanzhen ways are different, following more a hierarchical structure rooted in more rigid systems.
Reading about all this is kind of heavy. It can be hard to keep up with the namedropping and the historical framework, especially if you have no background in Chinese Culture and history. So, this is not an easy book. It took me almost a year to read. Why? First chapter is very interesting and works as a stepping stone; it’s a general intro into Taoism. People who are interested in the subject and have some knowledge on the subject will feel that they really can follow what Schipper is writing here. The following chapters are different. Schipper writes about the history of Taoism in relation to the history of what we now call China (Zhong guo, the country in the middle). China, from Qin, the first Emperor, was not very friendly towards Taoism. As to say, Taoism is a mentality, it’s following the way… and the way is ungraspable. You can’t control Taoism. It may seem, for an untrained eye, that Taoism has similarities with anarchism. Because Taoism works with the people and it does’t want a clever and all controlling state. So, Chinese officials have always been skeptical towards old school Taoism and have tried to conquer and / or destroy it. As Schipper points out: 95% of the Ancient Toaistic Beliefs and Rituals have been obliterated. Chinese officials tried to work with Taoism, transforming it into a controlling vehicle in which the authority of the word became a core idea. By naming all things, one can control them. It became a much more rhetoric teaching, rooted in structures and rules and less in the individual search for the Self.
Schipper tries to collect all that remains of Taoism and puzzle everything together into an understandable collection of tales, folklore, rituals, historical links, etc. He really goes into depth and sometimes explains full rituals that must have taken days and days to complete. Some rituals had more than a 100 participants that needed to go through dozens of rites, divides in various chapters, in an overal choreography of utmost details and importance. Page after page, with the full length and detail Schipper reconstructs Taoistic practices. He often links it with the Chinese language as he points out the exact Chinese words and their meaning(s). Although this is only a 400 page long book, it is a massive work. He goes into depth without loosing the stepping stone ability that the book has. And he often points out that, if you want to know more about a specific detail / story / practice, one should read the more detailed work another time (like the Zhuang Zi, Lie Zi and other links are read best on itself). This book is massive but it’s merely an introduction. Highly recommended and probably a book that I will (need to) read again.
Taoism is beautiful in its essence and simplicity. And because of that, it’s also very difficult and abstract. The first chapter of the Dao De King (or Tao Te Jing) literally states that: ‘The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.’ In other words: it’s not really possible to write, teach or talk about the Tao. The Chinese concept originates from the word Dao 道 (pinyin: dào), whose numerous meanings include 'way', 'road' (and 'technique' and so on). The Tao is tasteless, colourless, invisible. One can only understand it by trying to describe what circles around it. It’s a bit like a black hole; one can only see a black hole due to the accretion disk circling around it. The hole itself is invisible. So, that’s something what they have in common. But on the other hand it’s totally not like a black hole :-) A black hole is part of our universe and it originated long after the Big Bang. The Tao has always been here. It was the original state of the universe before anything happened. It is the underlying energy, the fabric of the cosmos. It stille exists here and now. It’s almost a being on itself, an entity, an unconscious consciousness.
Schipper starts with the basics. People who are familiar with the Tao Te Jing often have some knowledge of Taoistic concepts like wei wu wei (doing without resistance or effortless action; 無為 wu wei), naturalness and spontaneity, simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion. Schipper talks about this and situates it in its historical frame. Taoism originated in a turbulent period around 400 BC. Although it crystallised into graspable texts during this period; many ideas are way way older going back to the period after Great Flood and before the agricultural revolution.
Schippper links it with folklore and the Old Belief in Nature. Furthermore he connects it with Confucianism and really points out the differences. Confucianism is more rooted in the old rituals connected to the deities of agricultural practice. Confucianism is more rigid and more about control, about following specific steps, about rituals and sacrifices. Taoism doesn’t want to control anything. It doesn’t engage in sacrifices. It’s about self cultivation in an almost paradoxical way; by letting go of everything one shall have everything that one needs. The philosophies support a core principle of self help: The path of understanding Taoism is simply accepting yourself. Live life and discover who you are. Your nature is ever changing and is always the same. Don’t try to resolve the various contradictions in life, instead learn acceptance of your nature. In a way, by becoming in sync with the Tao, one can become immortal and return to the source.
Taoism is not a religion in the pure sense of the word. There is no Superior Being, nor a Creature From Above, no real God nor Master. There are a large number of Gods and Figures With Special Abilities (think of the Ba Xian 八仙 or the Eight Immortals). But these Figures and Gods never stand above the Tao, they are always part of the Tao and part of the world. Schipper really dives into the history of Taoism and wildly explains ancient stories, traditions, folklore and rituals. He also points out the different schools of Taoism and the clash between the two still existing parties: the North and the South; in which the Northern School is really connected to Confucianism. It is less spiritual and way more practical. It’s about following steps, principles and rituals. In a way this Northern Taoism founded Chinese Thought. The Southern style is the style widely spread in the Western world with its philosophical playfulness, connecting to the core Tao teachings from the past. These two schools are the left overs from the 13th century reformation in which Taoism was officially divided into two big religious cults: the Zhengyi ways and Quanzhen ways. The taoists who believe in Zhengyi Tao need not renounce the family and can practise austerities at their own homes. The Quanzhen ways are different, following more a hierarchical structure rooted in more rigid systems.
Reading about all this is kind of heavy. It can be hard to keep up with the namedropping and the historical framework, especially if you have no background in Chinese Culture and history. So, this is not an easy book. It took me almost a year to read. Why? First chapter is very interesting and works as a stepping stone; it’s a general intro into Taoism. People who are interested in the subject and have some knowledge on the subject will feel that they really can follow what Schipper is writing here. The following chapters are different. Schipper writes about the history of Taoism in relation to the history of what we now call China (Zhong guo, the country in the middle). China, from Qin, the first Emperor, was not very friendly towards Taoism. As to say, Taoism is a mentality, it’s following the way… and the way is ungraspable. You can’t control Taoism. It may seem, for an untrained eye, that Taoism has similarities with anarchism. Because Taoism works with the people and it does’t want a clever and all controlling state. So, Chinese officials have always been skeptical towards old school Taoism and have tried to conquer and / or destroy it. As Schipper points out: 95% of the Ancient Toaistic Beliefs and Rituals have been obliterated. Chinese officials tried to work with Taoism, transforming it into a controlling vehicle in which the authority of the word became a core idea. By naming all things, one can control them. It became a much more rhetoric teaching, rooted in structures and rules and less in the individual search for the Self.
Schipper tries to collect all that remains of Taoism and puzzle everything together into an understandable collection of tales, folklore, rituals, historical links, etc. He really goes into depth and sometimes explains full rituals that must have taken days and days to complete. Some rituals had more than a 100 participants that needed to go through dozens of rites, divides in various chapters, in an overal choreography of utmost details and importance. Page after page, with the full length and detail Schipper reconstructs Taoistic practices. He often links it with the Chinese language as he points out the exact Chinese words and their meaning(s). Although this is only a 400 page long book, it is a massive work. He goes into depth without loosing the stepping stone ability that the book has. And he often points out that, if you want to know more about a specific detail / story / practice, one should read the more detailed work another time (like the Zhuang Zi, Lie Zi and other links are read best on itself). This book is massive but it’s merely an introduction. Highly recommended and probably a book that I will (need to) read again.
February 26, 2026
Erg uitgebreid boek. Van het ontstaan tot feestrituelen en van mythes tot interne alchemie. Als beginner alsnog soms best ingewikkelde Chinese namen benamingen en uitspraken, waardoor het soms wel erg moeilijk te volgen is en je goed je focus moet hebben voor wat je precies aan het lezen bent. Het onderwerp waar ik hem voor had gekocht (interne alchemie) was wel erg interessant.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews